Why I Take So Many Pictures

We take tons of pictures.  I have to give a special "thanks" to whoever invented digital cameras.  I could never take pictures the way I do if I was dealing with film.  With digital pictures, I can take 10 pictures of a simple little moment in our lives, upload them to my computer in minutes, and blog them just as easily.

I also scrapbook, which is a great hobby of mine.  I love looking through old scrapbooks and the old pages of my blog, just to remember past events.  The fast pace of my life sometimes leads me to forget these precious times.

Another huge advantage of taking so many pictures is that I notice details in pictures which I did not notice in "real life."  These details give me a chance to relive, and study, these simple moments in life. 

For example, when Robby made colorful volcanoes for the girls in our kitchen, I was focused on the floor and the science project not making a huge mess.  During the activity, I missed the intense look on the girls' faces, but I now realize that they were fascinated by the volcanoes:

Another picture I took which sticks in my mind is this one:

When I took the picture, I was just snapping pictures.  But once I looked at it on the computer, I realized how cute it was.  Catherine was pushing a grocery cart, carrying two purses, and talking on the cell phone.  All at the same time.  She was modeling my behavior - I am a constant multi-tasker.  I am not sure if her copying that behavior is good or not, but "it is what it is."

Why I Blog

I read a lot of blogs through my Google Reader.  I love it and cannot believe that I was blogging for a good year before I knew about readers.  Oh well, live and learn.  If you do not use a reader, it allows you to organize blogs that you have liked in the past and very quickly scan through all of the recent posts at one place.

I have recently done some thinking about why I blog and came up with several reasons:

To have an outlet for my writing urges (years ago I was an English major)
To record the images and stories for my own benefit (it's amazing what I forget)
To record the past for my girls and family
To contribute to the exchange of ideas (nearly all craft/activity ideas are borrowed from others)
To spread awareness about medically fragile children - there is still joy & love to be had!
To explore new technology (when I was in school we didn't even have PC's)

I really do enjoy blogging and hope that you enjoy reading my blog!!

To Blog or Not to Blog

As you know, I blog regularly. I think it is like an instant scrapbook for me. A way for me to instantly memorialize, categorize, and summarize what we are doing. I love it when the girls want to look at themselves on the computer and scroll through the pages. I love it when I see a freind in the courthouse who has never made a comment on the blog and she tells me "I am going to do your advent activity calendar with my kids next year." Or a deputy (again who I had no idea even knew I had a blog) tells me that the pictures of my kids are so cute. Or a neighbor tells me "I'm stealing your Parting of the Red Sea craft idea." This feedback just rocks my world!

A few weeks ago I had a blog-related crisis. Unbeknownst to me, there is apparently a limit to the amount of photographs I can upload to my blog. Who knew? Well, I reached the limit and was unable to upload any more pictures.

So, I could either stop blogging, blog only text articles, or figure out a "technology" solution. I really debated if I wanted to continue to blog as I have been, with so many pictures.

My gut reaction was that I wanted to, but I wasn't sure why I still wanted to blog. Certainly I love the feedback I get. I love participating in the online dialogue and exchange of ideas (as I have said before, nearly every single idea I have I have stolen from some other blogger). I was an English major and do like to write; the blog provides an outlet for some of my writing skills. I like the fact that I am keeping a record of what we are doing.

So, I decided I wanted to continue to blog - with all the pictures. My husband is my IT guy and he spent a lot of time trying to find another solution. We considered starting a new blog, but I kind of like having everything organized together. We tried a few systems where we can upload our pictures to a photo sharing site and then link to them on my blog. This somewhat worked, but I was unable to format my blog posts like I wanted. I am a bit embarassed to say that we spent hours trying to solve this problem, with a few arguments.

So, we finally ended up paying Google $5 a year (I know that is not a lot of money but I am cheap and wanted a free solution) to increase the amount of space my blog had. I actually was quite busy yesterday and have not had a chance to test it and make sure I can upload more pictures. I'll try very soon and get back on track!

Readers from Around the World

Today I began looking at some of the new features on Blogger, just out of curiosity. The software now tracks where my "page views" originate. I was shocked to find the following in my top destinations of page views:

United States - 1,368
Canada - 44
South Korea - 42
Chile -31
United Kingdom - 28
India - 18
Germany - 17
Australia - 16
Brazil - 15
Netherlands - 11

Obviously I was not surprised that the majority of my readers are from the U.S. But, I know no one in any of those other countries. Who on Earth are they? And why are they reading my blog? Makes me wonder ...

What is a "Blog?"

Lately I have been researching on the internet ideas for improving my blog. Yet, at the same time, I wonder WHY do I blog? I love this quote (unfortunately I cannot figure out who said it, I just found it):

"Blog is a site you are reading today.Knowing it was written yesterday.Expecting it to be written tomorrow."

Yes, there is an immediacy to blogging which I love.